Yesterday in my dairy about my past and asking what we do with offenders a commenter stated:
Not in this instance:
“When I was either 18/19 I brought a woman to my house in hopes of having sex with her. As I made my intent clear, she got more and more nervous and flustered. Rather than back down or leave her alone I grabbed her breasts”
I was a prosecutor in OHIO and DC. Let’s take DC.
On those facts I would have charged you with attempted rape. I would have expected to to negotiate a plea deal with the you attorney. You can argue about what degree this was. My guess is the plea would have been Fourth Degree Sexual Abuse. That is a felony, and you would have done at least a year in prison. Not jail. Prison.
You would then have been forced to register as a sex offender.
No, I don’t respect your good works after the fact.
I don’t respect those who EVER force themselves on another women.
My response was angry, defensive and wrong. I said:
Okay, what do you want to do with me? Come on, there are two Andy Ternay’s in the United States. The one in Colorado is my 78 year old dad. I’m in Dallas, Texas.
You know who I am, you know where I am. I admit what I have done. But before you get me, maybe you could do something about the serial abuser in the presidency.
It must be wonderful to be free from fault.
The truth is, the commenter is right. I like to think that the Andy Ternay who groped a woman without consent died with my sobriety on February 2, 2001. That’s not true. I was sober when I touched that woman. I don’t like to think of myself as a felon or a sex offender. It’s really uncomfortable to call myself that but it is true. And this commenter has every right to their opinion of me.
Obviously I still have work to do to become the man I want to be.